This blog was inspired by a 5min debate mid session with one of my female clients. I won't name her but she knows who she is. 1st of all this particular client is extremely fit with a athletically toned physique but slightly rilled me with a request to train towards being skinny. Normally I train clients to their specific targets and tailor their programme in order to achieve their request but this was one goal that I was prepared to go against and debate. First off skinny is not necessarily healthy and secondly skinny does not look good. Lets not confuse skinny with lean, slim or toned, they're completely different looks. 1 still has curves and a defined physique while the other can be likened to a clothes hanger. Women were designed reproductively to have curves so I really don't see the appeal to reduce yourself to skin and bone.
Thankfully in more recent times there seems to be a change in tide with more and more women introducing weight training to their workout regime. Even though on the front of female magazines are still digitally touched up models creating an unrealistic image of what a woman should look like there has been more and more media exposure towards women doing weight training. I think this is down to more health & fitness knowledge becoming readily available via the internet, more fitness magazines & personal trainers like myself freely giving tips via Twitter (@Stoneimage), Facebook (Stone Image), Blogs (iMAGEchat), Youtube (STONEiMAGE TV) etc. women are becoming more aware of the benefits weight training brings to fat loss. Notice I used the term fat loss as apposed to weight loss, what weight training does is increase muscle, reduce bodyfat while increasing your metabolism too, so your body burns more calories at rest. You can have an amazing reduction in bodyfat, look a lot leaner and drop dress sizes without dropping too much weight. The fact is muscle is much more dense than fat so 2 women both weighing 60kg can look completely different if one has a much lower bodyfat and higher muscle percentage than the other. The one with the lower bodyfat and higher muscle percentage will look a lot smaller to her more flabby counterpart. Another reason for the tidal change is the increased knowledge that doing weight training will not automatically result in a woman resembling the hulk which even though the myth still exists it is slowly being eradicated. Weight training will give you the physique and muscle tone that cardio alone can't.
Strong is the new skinny......
Most of the celebrity women a lot of you look to when thinking of your future physique are working with personal trainers and doing weight bearing training. It was recently publicised that once stick thin Paris Hilton had now found a love for the odd deadlift or 2. Mel B, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry (the list goes on) all work with trainers and do weight training. Now there are some extremes like Madonna, Jodie Marsh or any other bodybuilder you can think of but these are results achieved on purpose, not just a natural result of weight training so ladies there is nothing to fear.
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| Mel B arrives at the gym |
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| Jennifer Aniston in T-bar pose |
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| Jessica Alba shows off her toned physique |
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| Halle Berry is regularly at the gym |
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| Jessica Biel is a self proclaimed gym freak |
Strong is the new skinny........
I trained a young lady for the 1st time this week and brought her into the free weights area. Straight away she said she wouldn't go there without me as with all the men in the area she finds it intimidating. I can understand that its an area that the men gravitate to but its not the mens area and theres lots a woman could do in that area to also reap the rewards of muscle tone. I love nothing more than seeing a woman walk into the free weights area and get on with her workout confidently. A lot of the men are impressed to see a woman there rather than making it an intimidating environment. I have a client who is tiny in stature weighing around 53kg but she set a new Deadlift PB of 75kg and Squat PB of 80kg which is more than some of my guys, she grunts and gets the job done with the best of them. Looking at her you wouldn't assume that over 18months I've had her doing all sorts of different weight training and still her muscles are yet to rip through her clothes like some of you would believe to be the result of weights.
Strong is the new skinny.....
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| Ladies order your STRONGisthenewskinny tshirts for just £20 email info@stone-img.com |
Go on give it a go, what have you got to lose apart from the Bingo wings, muffin tops, thunder thighs etc
Written by
Erron Dussard
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